Spud’s Wines Issue 8
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010After a long journey to Japan, Ireland, Scotland and French inspired Australia
Greetings all, I’m back… cancel the search party.
In this issue I will be taking you through some great wine and cheese, but firstly I would like to tell you about a few Whiskeys including a couple from an unexpected country.
Cold weather and Whisky or Whiskey (depending on where it is from and/or made), go hand in hand. The first Whisky session of the year started off with two from Japan. Our host explained how he had only recently started to discover Japanese Whisky (spelt this way due to being made in the Scottish style), but had been pretty impressed so far.
The first tasting was a wee bit rough but its burnt flavour went great with the complimentary barbecued meats. Next Japanese one was very different – extra sweet, which would go very well with a sticky date pud. To break things up before we moved into the to be expected smoky Whiskey from Islay (pronounced eye-la, which I now realise is why I got some strange looks in Edinburgh when saying is-lay a few years back) we had an ever reliable Irish stayer. Tullamore Dew (the Dew is actually DEW, the initials of its creator Mr. Daniel E. Williams, but I guess Dew sounds better) is a great little Whiskey, very smooth and I got a lot of Banana flavour out of this, not that anyone else in the room seemed to, but hey who cares.
Finally was the Bowmore – great Whisky. Very smoky but I like it like that. The smokiness comes from the water they use, which roles down the hills through the peat (which doubles as a fuel in some areas). For me, the 18-year-old Bowmore shone through the most for the night, truly excellent.
Yamakazi (Japan) 12 year 6/10 – In a word: Burnt
Yamakazi (Japan) 18 year 7.5/10 – Sweet
Tullamore Dew (Ireland) 12 year 7/10 – Banana
Bowmore (Scotland – Islay) 12 year 7.5/10 – Smoky soft
Bowmore (Scotland – Islay) 18 year 9/10 – Smoky smoooooth
Wine time
Me and the Mrs. popped into Richmond Hill Café and Larder recently for some brunch, which some how or other turned into an ad-hoc ‘early’ afternoon wine and cheese tasting. Everything was excellent, starting off with a light brie complemented by a soft Pinot Noir, on into an excellent robust Gruyere with a Shiraz (reminding me once again how great this grape is) that showed the cheese who was boss and finally a very creamy succulent Blue with a sweet Moscato, which rounded things off perfectly. Great cheese, great wine at a great place – do yourselves a favour!
Fougerous (Brie) 6.5/10 – Farfalla 2008 (Pinot Noir) 7/10
French Comte (Gruyere) 8.5/10 – Rockbare (Shiraz) 8.5/10
St Agur (Blue) 9.5 – Holm Oak ‘Duffy’ (Moscato) 6.5/10
The Ad:
PJ O’Brien’s Winter Whisky Sessions 2010:
Southgate Arts & Leisure Precinct, Southbank
03 9686 5011
Four sessions held per year at $50 a head. Night includes tasting’s, food to complement the flavours and a piss head expert to take you through each tasting.
Richmond Hill Café and Larder:
48-50 Bridge Road
Richmond VIC 3351
03 9421 2808
For all wines and cheeses just Google them, a wee bit lazy today
